picture of forest

Sunday, January 13, 2013

The above video features Anderson Cooper "setting the record straight." Good God... Since when did journalism turn into a platform to administer personal attacks? Since when did journalism become the blacklisting machine? (Likely a long, long time ago, but who is keeping track…) If you still think the 1st Amendment is alive and well after watching this "report," you obviously didn't pay close enough attention. Put the story aside for a moment and examine this from a journalistic perspective. Is Anderson Cooper "reporting," or is he "defaming?" It doesn't matter whether you agree or disagree with James Tracy, the professor in question — that is not the real problem here. He can believe whatever he wants, just like you can, just like you should.

I am not claiming that what this guy said is right, nor am I endorsing his views in any way. My observation isn’t about that whatsoever. What I am trying to point out is how twisted the "news" is, and how easy it is to buy into a particular belief system because it is portrayed as the status quo. I mean really, look at this guy! He says something that others find “controversial” and next he is blacklisted by CNN? Jesus, Mary and Joseph… The United States was a, what was it again… “free country” or something like that, correct? Well, I guess you are allowed to speak your mind so long as what you say doesn’t question the status quo — the “official” version of whatever-the-hell. And I’m not suggesting that everyone should be controversial for the sake of it, nor would it be wise to spread negativity in verbal form or any other, but when you start making attacks against others because they don’t believe what you believe, I truly have a problem with that. That isn’t fair, and it isn’t what this country is about. Freedom applies to all individuals, whether you agree with their views or not.

Again, the issue I am pointing out here lies not in matters of "validity;" whether Tracy’s claim is valid or not is an entirely different matter altogether... The issue that I am trying to bring to light is the demonization of an individual over a set of beliefs that do not conform to the status quo. If this is indeed a "free country", then Cooper’s action of ridiculing this man’s beliefs on public programming is an unacceptable abuse of power and effectively an insult to freedom. The only message it sends is that you are not allowed to speak your mind, and worse, that you need to be in fear in case you do. This country wasn't founded on blind acceptance. It's unfortunate that people cannot express their views without anticipating a huge backlash, and when you have the media jumping on the bandwagon, well... it's just plain sad. Freedom is so much more enjoyable when it is practiced!

"Anderson Cooper goes beyond the headlines to tell stories from many points of view, so you can make up your own mind about the news." — Copied directly from Anderson Cooper 360 webpage. God, what a joke. Many points of view? I only see one big, fat, biased view here, and you can observe that exact same "point of view" in the vast majority of CNN reports. (Coincidence?)

And for the record, Anderson Cooper can say whatever he wants in his own time, but when he is getting paid to do a specific job like share the news, his opinions (or should I say, the dictum of the “indoctrination machine”), should be kept in check. Hey Cooper, if you really look at things from so many different points of view like your webpage claims, then how come you haven't investigated WHY a person like James Tracy believes what he does? Don't settle at the interview stage, look into his "conspiracy theory" and try to figure out why someone might believe it. I would imagine that such an investigative measure would be pretty obvious to any real reporter who wants to truly understand every aspect of a particular issue, leaving no stone unturned, no matter how “unspeakable” you may consider it. Oh, well. Maybe he’s scared. Perhaps lazy. The fat is in the fire in any case, and it smells like a smoldering, grotesque, slanderous chunk of ass-meat. Using you position in the media to defame someone is in extremely poor taste. Way to go, Mr. Cooper, stay classy.